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Acting Here

Because the environment is the raw material of tourism, our Group has set stock by this position on sustainable development since 1974. Ever since, we have constantly worked to redefine boundaries. Today, we are giving our commitment a new lease of life.

Woman and children near a water point

In the wake of the 21st climate change conference, and strengthened by the lessons drawn from our previous action plan, we have formulated our vision for 2020: let's break new ground, wherever we are, driving change to positive hospitality. Through a new 5-year plan, we are banking on innovation and accountability to generate wealth sustainably and limit our negative impacts.

Arnaud Herrmann, VP Sustainable Developement

Acting every day for Positive Hospitality

Because every one of our hotels is a world in itself

Small planets that welcome 600,000 guests every day. Providing them with water, energy and food. We strive to make these little worlds ever better models of excellence.
This is a requirement that we have been nurturing, since the very beginning, with some bold commitments:

1994: 1st hotel business to establish an Environment department.

2015: 1st group to approve a non-financial decision at an Annual General Meeting that commits it to planting 10 million trees by 2021.

Because there is an urgent need to go even further...

Today, the climate issue has become a concrete reality.
Our guests and employees are aware of the need to act, and they want to play a part in the changes that lie ahead.
Every day, new solutions emerge and new players shake up the established order.

Because as a player and a leader in these changes, we must set the example.

Yes, we are pioneers in our field. But we are also 250 000 passionate people, committed to providing a type of hospitality that is open to the world – proud to be different, able to surprise, innovate and inspire.

Drive the change towards Positive Hospitality, wherever we are

In April 2016, we gave fresh impetus to our commitment as we act to provide a positive hospitality experience; one that creates links and positive outcomes for all our guests, while striving relentlessly to reduce the impacts associated with our operations.

Destination-Rio-de-Janeiro-Bresil

Acting Here. How ?

Because the hotel is the heart of our business, we have made it the focus of our “Acting Here” commitments. Because our everyday lives are made up of contact and interaction with all the men and women who live the hotel experience and make it possible it is with and for them that we have chosen to act.

Almost 4,800 hotels worldwide, as many Positive Hospitality ambassadors

Acting Here...

Acting here means acting locally, at the level of the small planet constituted by each of our 4,300 hotels across the globe.

Because they are the main players in our aim to achieve Positive Hospitality. For years they have all been committed to making continuous progress on sustainable development.

An internal system to advance the performance of our hotels since 2011.

With the launch of Planet 21 in 2011, we created an action plan that offered our hotels 65 actions to promote sustainable development, tailored to the hotel context. This included a four-level rating system:

Bronze

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Each level marks the progress our hotels are making in implementing the program.

Objectives:

encourage each of them to go as far as possible,

help their guests to appreciate the importance of their sustainable development approach.

On our reservation website, for example, a pictogram identifies the hotels that have been certified as achieving Gold or Platinum status.

A regular increase in the hotels' levels of performance

In 2011:

65% hotels not rated Bronze

24% Bronze-level hotels

9% Silver-level hotels

2% Gold-level hotels

In 2012:

34% hotels not rated Bronze

32% Bronze-level hotels

27% Silver-level hotels

6% Gold-level hotels

In 2013:

17% hotels not rated Bronze

31% Bronze-level hotels

37% Silver-level hotels

14% Gold-level hotels

1% Platinum-level hotels

In 2014:

12% hotels not rated Bronze

28% Bronze-level hotels

37% Silver-level hotels

21% Gold-level hotels

3% Platinum-level hotels

In 2015:

9% hotels not rated Bronze

22% Bronze-level hotels

39% Silver-level hotels

26% Gold-level hotels

4% Platinum-level hotels

The results have been staggering and the progress made by our hotels
outstanding. Given the scale of the success, it was clear that we should extend
the system... as well as improve it.

An overhaul that helps us to raise our standards and adapt to local contexts.

We overhauled the system to reflect the new objectives of Planet 21 | 2016-2020. Our hotels now have a new roadmap to help us meet our commitments by 2020:

Planet 21 in Action. It sets out 16 mandatory actions for achieving the new “Bronze” level, which must be obtained before moving on to the higher levels.

BUILDING

Measure and analyse water and energy consumption on a monthly basis. Act to address any malfunction

Respect standard water flows for all showers, taps and toilets

Ensure proper wastewater treatment

Use energy-saving lamps

Recycle hazardous waste

Recycle two types of waste: paper, glass, cardboard or plastic

Examples of initiatives:

Install metering and automatic sub-metering for water, energy and temperatures

Use environmentally-responsible products and methods for treating pool water

FOOD

Ban on endangered fish species

Examples of initiatives:

Source local food products and / or products from short food supply chains

Establish an urban vegetable garden

COMMUNITIES

Take part in our Plant for the Planet program

Implement our WATCH child protection program

Examples of initiatives:

Give away end-of-life hotel products for re-use or recycling

Support a local association

PARTNERS

Follow the “Ethics & CSR checklist” for purchases made directly by the hotel

Then, to go even further, each hotel selects other actions from over 60 initiatives. This flexible system enables it to build its own program in line with our Group’s commitments, but also reflecting the hotel’s local characteristics:

its prior level of progress on sustainable development,

its priority areas for improvement,

the environment and local issues...

For each hotel, this is a guarantee of efficiency.

A weighting mechanism establishes the action achievement level with a score that places the hotel around the higher levels:

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Our guests will soon be able to choose a hotel on all.accor.com with all the facts at their disposal. We will clearly display the Planet 21 level achieved by each of our hotels.

A modernized management tool to make the changes successfully

In 2005, we provided our hotels with an online tool to manage their sustainable development approach and monitor their water and energy consumption, along with their waste production: OPEN. In 2016, this tool evolved and became Gaia.

Modern and user-friendly, Gaia is designed to operate as a hub for all sustainable development issues, but also for technical services. The tool:

includes the Planet 21 in Action roadmap

assists the hotels with implementing it by making it easier to share information and best practice.

It also enables our hotels to:

carries out self-assessment,

defines their priority objectives,

creates their action plan,

monitors their progress.

For even greater efficiency, the tool is shared with the technical teams, who can also use it to track maintenance work, manage energy performance and ensure the facilities comply with safety and environmental regulations, etc.

Acting Here in practice

Every year around World Earth Day on 22 April, our hotels clearly display their commitment to sustainable development. This is the Planet 21 Day.